Overall Project Evaluation

Influence Of Photographer Research-

The artist research that I have done over the course of component 2 has greatly influenced my preparatory shoots and shoots within the exam. 

Rut Blees Luxemburg- 

One photographer that has developed my photography on urban landscape the most would be Rut Blees Luxemburg, her photography opened up a whole new dynamic for shooting urban landscape, I realised the significance of photographing the urban landscape at night. The techniques that Rut Blees uses to capture the landscape at night is really effective and creative, the use of long exposure time, depth of field, made me evaluate the possibilities of my own photography and so I decided to shoot at night; the first shoot I took at night was shoot 6 of component 2, where I stood on a bridge over the A10 dual carriage way taking pictures of cars going past at night, the techniques I used were inspired by the work of Rut Blees as I experimented with exposure time and depth of field, which made for an interesting light effect, I also used a tripod throughout the shoot. Furthering my ideas in the exam proposal, for my second shoot I photographed my local town at night, using similar techniques however i used more depth of field. Then for my last shoot of the exam shoot, I shot Harlow urban landscape at night, this was the most rewarding shoot, and the most heavily influenced from Rut Blees' work, as I used her simple yet effective approach on showing different subjects of the urban landscape in one cohesive picture, focusing purely on the influence of the urban lights to show off the landscape. 

Development -

Throughout the duration of component 2 and the exam, my photography has developed both creatively and technically. In the preparatory shoot I set out to photograph a series of connected images, and for this I chose to focus on the urban landscape. For the first few shoots i component 2 I focused on a small part that makes up the urban landscape; graffiti, I thought this was interesting element of the urbanised landscape, as time went on and I took more shoots, I chose to get a broader view of the urban landscape in my photography and so took my camera on days out in London and other city's etc, this made my photography more creatively developed, creating a more eclectic series of images of the urban landscape, also for my shoot in Norwich, I shot two separate shoots, one from my eye view walking around part of the city and the other from the more landscape view of the buildings and from a persepectibvew looking up and down over the surroundings, changing my techniques and Ideas ion what the urban landscape is and how I can show it creatively. Then for shoot 6 I choose to shoot the urban landscape at night, this opened me up to a realm of possibilities in shooting urban landscape, as I developed new techniques in showing the scene, through the means of exposure etc. Through the exam, I chose to shoot the urban landscape of Harlow, as there is a good high point which has the view over the whole town, this helped to get a diverse and eclectic series of images of Harlow town, then for shoot 2 I shot a series at night around my local town, which was revising ideas of nighttime urban landscape photography for shoot 3; where I returned back to the multi story carpark to photograph the urban landscape of Harlow at night, this was one of the most effective shoots i've shot, as it shows the development of creativity in shooting photos, and my techniques in exposure and aperture experimentation, the shoot was also greatly influenced by Rut Blees Luxemburg.

Review-

Overall I am happy with my ability in responding to the exam paper, I think i've successfully managed to capture a series of connected images of the urban landscape, showing development technically and creatively with the influence of photographers such as Rut Blees Luxemburg, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks and Dan Holdsworth. I think I have achieved it successfully. 

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Final Pieces

Shoot 1-

                                                                             Shoot 2-

                                                                    Shoot 3-

Shoot 3- Work Record

In shoot 3, I chose to return to the same location shoot 1, was taken in, which was on top of the multi story carpark in Harlow, however this time I chose to return back at nightime, as to add a new dynamic to the series of photos. In showing the urban landscape of Harlow, I thought night would be the perfect time as I could capture all the light against the backdrop of darkness, therefore I expected the images would turn out as an interesting series and contrast well with the first shoot, as well as developing  and furthering my ideas and techniques of night time photography from shoot 2. I used a tripod for the duration of the shoot, to give me precision and clarity, since I experimented with the aperture and exposure settings of the camera and so a tripod steadies the shot and improves the clarity of the nighttime shots. 

In this image I chose to focus on a surrounding flat on the top story of the multi story car park . I chose a long shutter speed of 30 seconds on the shot as to make all the lights in the surrounding background of the tree line come alive as well as the tone and colour of the sky and rooms within the flat, this is evident in the swirling effect of the light that emanates from the street lamps and buildings in the tree line below the flat. The frame of the shot shows off the subject and the backdrop it shows off a part of the top floor of the carpark with the railings and parking barricade, this is an effective frame as it is giving my perspective view of the scene, of not only the urban landscape but where I am shooting from as well, making for a cohesive image of the urban landscape of Harlow at night. The large F stop of 11 is reflective in the depth of field within the shot, as the flat which is the main subject and is the furthest main part of the image, this could be improved with even greater aperture and point of focus. The image connotes the urbanised world, quite run downed, poor areas. 

In this shot I chose to focus on the leading lines of the structures in the landscape, in the shot the visible leading lines are of the that off the wall of the car park running diagonally in to the centre of the shot, also the horizontal and vertical lines of the flat building in the left hand corner, and the lamp posts, all these different elements make for an interesting image with lots going on. The shot has good depth of field, due to that large aperture of F11 this means that off in the distance all is clear and therefore makes for an interesting landscape image. The lighting in this image is really interesting, the few second exposure from the lamps light up part of the backdrop, car park, flats enough to give an accurate clear representation of the urban landscape of Harlow. I don't think the light from the lamps are too overbearing, as I think they contrast well with the surrounding darkness of the rest of the image, I also like the lens flair in the top right hand corner this gives the image an interesting dynamic, the whole shot has a red tinge which gives an interesting effect to the shot. The image connotes how over-urbanised Harlow is as a place, it's density in buildings etc. 

                                                               Review / Progression-

I am overall happy with the outcome of the shoot 

Shoot 3- Straight Images

Shoot 3- Contact Sheet

Shoot 2- Work Record

In this shoot I decided to shoot round my local town; Broxbourne in order to show the urban landscape at night, I used a tripod throughout, and I experimented with aperture and shutter speed to. I wanted to focus on the walk way along the river where there are lots of lights and would make for an interesting setting, also the train station.

In this shot it is outside of a primary school, the image includes the river out of side of the left running parrell to both sets of railings, the lights illuminate the pathway, the the lines in the image start at the mouth of the octure and gradually both lines get closer running parallel together.I used 30 second exposure for this shot and so, the colour of the sky is visible in a dark rich indigo colour with a few stars in the sky, the light flare from the first lamppost is also visible due to the long exposure of the shot. The depth of field could be better as it is only on an F8, this is apparent in the centre of the shot where the distance is increased. The contrast is really nice between the green grass, grey cement, lighting and indigo sky, it al comes together to show an element of the urban landscape of Broxbourne. 

In this shot, this is more of an experimental shot in my series, I wanted to pic up on the red lights above a road, I took the picture from a top of a hill with a tripod, put the shutter speed of the camera on 30 seconds and increased the F stop to 13, as what I wanted to capture was off in the distance, there was no element of the shot that was up close, the shutter speed is definitely evident in this shot as the two red lights dominate the whole piece, the red tinge of the sky is also clear in the shot, I like how the two red lights envelop the whole image, the Fs top has clearly helped the shot in terms of depth of field. The urban landscape at night is just as big apart as it is i the day, but makes for a challenge to explore the means to portray it via the lights at night. 

                                                                    Review / Progression-

For this shoot, my main objective was to photograph urban landscape at night, I didn't have any reservations about where to go to do this, I am fairly happy with the out come of the images, some have turned out rather blurry and distorted as I got confused with the settings. From this shoot I don't think I have resell y achieved a landscape series of the whole town or city, this is why for my next shoot I would like to go back to the multi-storey carpark in Harlow town, as I think it would be a really effective place in showing the entire urban landscape of the town as well as all the lives that are still leaf at night.